"I knew even when you were a small boy that you would grow up and be the leader of this team. And when I pass on to be like a father as well. Leonardo if I can impart one piece of wisdom that will remain with you forever, Remember giving guidance to your brothers and friends does not come from here (points to Leo's forehead), but from here (points to Leo's chest). "
— Splinter to Leonardo

Hamato Yoshi (also frequently referred to as his alias Splinteror Master Splinter) was a mutant rat, ninjutsu sensei and one of the main protagonists of the 2012 TV series, known for being both the adoptive father and sensei of all four of the Turtles, the long-lost birth father of Karai/Miwa, husband of Tang shen as well as the adoptive brother and sworn enemy of The Shredder (born Oroku Saki).

Hamato Yoshi is the son and heir of Hamato Yuuta, the leader of the Hamato Clan whose rivalry with the Foot Clan came to an end when he was a child. During a confrontation with the Kraang, Hamato Yoshi was mutated into a mutant anthropomorphic sewer rat upon coming into contact with a sewer rat prior to the conflict. Since then ever since alluding the Kraang, he trained the Turtles in ninjutsu. During the Triceraton invasion, he is killed by Shredder but this attempt is foiled when the turtles travel back in time to save Earth. In Part 1 of the Season 4 Finale "Requiem", he is once again murdered by Super Shredder and buried at the O'Neil farmhouse. His spirit continues to watch over his family from the skies of heaven, imparting wisdom and advice to Leonardo, who reluctantly takes on the more challenging father-like role as sensei on his behalf.

Contents

Physical Appearance

Personality

Oroku Saki and Hamato Yoshi childhood friends

Splinter is very wise, noble, polite, humble, disciplined and generous ninjitsu sensei who can be very strict when it comes to training and letting his sons venture up to the surface, as seen in many episodes. At certain times, he may use harsh methods in order for them to learn a lesson, as seen in "The Pulverizer Returns!", in which he took away his sons' weapons so they could learn to fight outside of their typical environment. Nonetheless, Splinter is a loving father who only wants what is best for his sons, and will do anything that he can to protect them from harm's way.

Though stern at certain times, Splinter was known as a wise sensei, a defensive, protective and affiable parent, a loving father, a stern disciplinarian, a quirky master, and a Zen (he is very often seen in the Dōjō meditating). Having lost a family once, he is very determined to train and protect his new one at all costs, though he grudgingly realizes that the Turtles are now at an age where he will have to, at some point, give them the freedom to make their own mistakes in the outside world. The fact that he has gone through decades of ninja training does not only mean that he is always fierce when he fights, but that he's also remarkably in tune with the universe.He is a ninja master at the height of his abilities - He is so in tune with the universe that he can literally feel it's vibrations, allowing him to project and sense energy, and, occasionally, the intentions of others.

Splinter seems to dislike anyone that lays a hand on the Turtles. This is emphasized in "It Came From The Depths", as he battled Leatherhead because he threatened to harm the Turtles. Splinter's absolute worst fear is losing his family all over again to the Shredder, as seen in "Panic in the Sewers". His fear of losing the Turtles to the Shredder caused him to push their training to the point where they become exhausted, stressed, and antsy; though he does eventually apologize for it. It is very possible that Splinter fears the fact that the Turtles will leave him someday, as this was one of the notions that the Rat King (in "I, Monster") used against him in an attempt to control his mind.

History

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Born in 1962 in Osaka, Japan into a peacekeeping ninja clan called the Hamatos, Hamato Yoshi enrolled into a Martial Arts school before he could inherit his father's role as clan leader.

Originally a human named Hamato Yoshi, Splinter lived in Japan and studied ninjutsu alongside his best friend, Oroku Saki (later known as The Shredder). Yoshi's father found the young Saki as a baby boy, and raised him as Yoshi's brother.

Yoshi's skills were only rivaled by fellow student Oroku Saki, who was Yoshi's adoptive brother, originally from one of the wiped out rival clans, the Foot. Not only were they rivals in Martial Arts but also for the love of a beautiful woman named Tang Shen, who eventually chose to marry Yoshi. Saki could not accept this and once insulted Yoshi in front of her. Yoshi lost his temper and struck Saki to the ground. This attack solidified Saki's hatred for Yoshi and he vowed revenge. During this time, Saki learned of his true heritage and rebuilt the Foot Clan, rechristening himself as "the Shredder". One night, he came to Yoshi's home armed with razor sharp claw weapons and challenged him to a duel to the death. Yoshi accepted, and the two tore through Yoshi's home, catching it on fire. Just as Saki was about to kill Yoshi, Shen interfered and took the fatal blow for herself. Yoshi barely escaped without knowing the fate of his baby daughter Miwa, assuming her to also be seemingly killed, but in reality Shredder secretly abducted her and raised as his daughter, Karai.

Devastated, Hamato gave up his original name and left Japan for an eternity's exile. Under the alias "Splinter", he arrived in America and attempted to start a new life in New York City. One fateful night, he bought four baby turtles at a local pet store. As he was walking down the street, he bumped into a suspicious man, whom he curiously followed into an alley way. As Splinter watched the first man exchanging a strange canister of ooze with another, he stepped onto a passing rat that gave away his position. A fight ensued, and while Splinter was able to defeat the men (who were actually Kraang droids in disguise), the canister was broken. Splinter and his newly bought pet turtles were all covered in ooze and mutated instantly. He became a giant rat for the last thing he touched was a rat before his mutation, while the turtles became anthropomorphic.

For the following fifteen years, Splinter and the Turtles lived in hiding in the sewers under New York City. Taking them in as his sons and students, Splinter raised the turtles and trained them in the ways of Ninjutsu. When they turned fifteen, Splinter, though reluctant, allowed them to leave the lair for the very first time.

In Rise of the Turtles, Part 1, Splinter is seen telling the pivotal story of his mutation to the Turtles. It is revealed that he had also kept the canister of Mutagen that mutated them all as a charming souvenir. As a celebration of the Turtles' fifteenth 'birthday', Splinter, though reluctantly, allows them to explore the wondrous streets of New York City...

In Rise of the Turtles, Part 2, Splinter tells of his rivalry with The Shredder to a curious Leonardo, who wants to know if he can truly handle being the leader of his brothers. After the turtles rescued April, Leonardo asked Splinter if the reason that he made Leo the leader was because he had a true warrior spirit, Splinter actually reveals that the reason he made Leonardo the leader was because he asked, when questioned if any of the other brothers would have become leader if they asked first to which Splinter agreed, except for Michelangelo because he would think that would have been wrong.

Hamato Yoshi Battles Shredder/Oroku Saki and Defends Tang Shen

In Turtle Temper, Splinter explains to a grumpy Raphael that anger can indeed jeopardize the people around you. Yet again, Splinter tells of his harsh past. He explains that his temper against The Shredder is what ultimately caused one of his own family members to get killed before his very eyes.

In New Friend, Old Enemy, Splinter only briefly appears when he recognizes a familiar move used by Leonardo in a sparring match with Raph (this move was taught by Mikey to Leonardo and the others). They quickly realize that Mikey's recently made friend, Chris Bradford, is one of The Shredder's deadly top henchmen.

InI Think His Name is Baxter Stockman, Splinter unexpectedly catches the Turtles misbehaving and skateboarding in the lair. He grounds them for a week, but they decide to sneak out against Splinter's will and encounter a lone man dressed in robotic armor named Baxter Stockman, whom is trying to break into a building to construct his revenge on those who fired him. At first, they defeat him easily, but the fight turns into much more than they expect....When Splinter learns that they betrayed him, he is not pleased very much at all - but he does give them some good advice on their situation with Stockman - "Never fight the armor, fight the man inside", is what he says.

In Metalhead, Splinter is able to convince Donatello (who is finding his own Bo staff to be relatively ineffective in combat) that Martial Arts can sometimes prove to be more effective than using robotic machines. Donnie indeed learns his lesson when his own creation, Metalhead, falls under the control of The Kraang and he, miraculously, is able to defeat the robot with the partial use of his staff!!

In Monkey Brains, Splinter becomes quite fascinated in April when he realizes that she has an innate ability to sense internal feelings (something that he was never able to learn properly). As a response, Splinter wants to teach her to become a Kunoichi (a female ninja).

Hamato Yoshi rages after lost daughter and death of Tang Shen by Oroku Saki/Shredder

In Panic In the Sewers, Splinter becomes pulled between allowing the Turtles to go up to the surface to find a source of information or having them stay in their home when their secret lair suddenly is put at risk of being destroyed by The Shredder's clan.

InMousers Attack!, Splinter warns the Turtles that April O'Neil's missing cell-phone is not a major concern compared to the imminent threats of Baxter Stockman's Mousers and The Foot Clan. At the end of the day, the Turtles learn that, by choosing their battles poorly, they end up creating their own crisis...

In It Came From The Depths, Splinter thinks that his sons should help the aggrieved Leatherhead. However, Splinter soon accuses Leatherhead for unprovokedly attacking his sons.

In I, Monster, Splinter falls under the control of the evil Rat King, but he is eventually able to snap out of his trance (with the help of his sons) and he then defeats The Rat King with nothing but two fingers...

InNew Girl in Town, Splinter explains to Leonardo that leadership is not about the repercussions of having the burden of being leader - It's about carrying it no matter what....Meanwhile, Raph believes that being a leader is pretty easy, but he is quickly proven wrong when he is put through the same stress that Leo is every single day.

In Baxter's Gambit, Splinter assists April in finding a suitable weapon that she can use. At first, she cannot use any of the weapons with ease - until Splinter offers her a tessen that he once intended to give to his daughter. This likely indicates that Splinter now views April as his closest daughter-figure.

InKarai's Vendetta, Splinter teaches the turtles and April that they can use just about anything to defend themselves if the situation calls. He uses Raph as an example, whom he licks in order to get him off. Meanwhile, The Shredder sends Karai to capture April in order to lure out the turtles, but April is able to apply her Ninjutsu knowledge to flee the situation. Back in the lair, the turtles congratulate April. Splinter, however, is skeptical, and he tells April that she still may be unsafe, due to the simultaneous threats that both The Shredder and The Kraang pose, advising that April should not leave the lair for a while... April, rather reluctant to cope with the circumstances, is eager to get started on stopping the enemies.

InPulverizer Returns!, Splinter realizes that the Turtles have been growing complacent using their signature weapons, and that they will have to adapt to using varied weapons if the situation calls.

In Showdown, Part 1 and Part 2, While the Turtles are forced to confront the Kraang and rescue April, Shredder uses April's abduction to utterly trick Splinter into confronting him. Splinter goes to the shredder's lair to rescue her; fighting many foot soldiers and his two mutant henchmen Dogpound and Fishface who he easily takes out. He then discovers that April is a hologram being projected by a Mouser that he destroys with a Shuriken. He then hears the Shredder's laugh. He asks his foe what he did with April. the shredder then reveals that he only needed April as bait to lure him out and now that he has; he had no use of her so he handed her over to his new allies, the Kraang. His arch-enemy then appears before him. Although initially amused at the discovery of Hamato Yoshi being a Mutant rat, Shredder quickly engages him in battle, angrily proclaiming that Hamato stole everything from him, while Splinter counters that Tang Shen was never, ever Shredder's. Initially evenly matched, Splinter begins to gain an advantage when he starts to rely on his abilities as a rat, partially breaking one of Shredder's blades in his teeth and running on all fours to evade his attacks, but Splinter is then knocked off-balance emotionally when he realizes that Karai is his owndaughter, Miwa, raised to hate him and believe that he was responsible for the death of her mother. Unwilling to fight his daughter, Splinter finally decides to retreat, declining to tell his sons what he has discovered in favor of allowing them to celebrate their supposed victory over the Kraang.

In The Mutation Situation, A month after the defeat of Shredder and the Kraang, Splinter warns the turtles that their enemies may not be completely gone. He also calls them out on being lazy and overconfident, telling them to end their "party". After they accidentally unleash dozens of canisters of mutagen across the city, Splinter tells them that they have to find them before they create more mutants

In The Lonely Mutation Of Baxter Stockman When Donatello perfects the retro-mutagen he has been working on to cure Kirby O'Neil, he initially creates enough for two doses- one for Kirby and one for Splinter- but when one dose is destroyed before it can be used, Splinter assures Donatello that he is content to exist in his mutated form.

In The Wrath of Tiger Claw Karai becomes unsure of who to believe and feigns a defection to the Turtles' side while planning an attack on the lair with Tiger Claw. Splinter shows Karai a completed copy of the photo she carries around with her of her mother (the completed image being of both Yoshi and Shen), and makes her believe him finally.

In Vengeance is Mine Splinter is once more reunited with Karai after the Turtles' successful rescue attempt. However, he makes the mistake of confiding the entire story of how her mother died to Karai, prompting her to return to Shredder's stronghold to exact vengeance. This results in her again being captured and used as bait to lure the Turtles into a vat of mutagen tainted with serpent DNA. In the course of the rescue attempt, Leo tries to free Karai (suspended over the vat), but Shredder's swipe of his gauntlet meant for Leo cuts the chain instead. Both Shredder and Splinter watch in horror as Karai is mutated into a serpent creature with snakes for hands. Again, Shredder blames his own mistake on Splinter, who barely manages to get through to his daughter before she escapes the fire that her struggle starts in the lab. Leo tries to apologize to Splinter for allowing Karai to escape the lair, but Splinter is too overcome with grief to acknowledge it.

In The Invasion, Part 2 Splinter fights Shredder and witnesses him seemingly kill Leatherhead. Splinter and Shredder's fight continues through the sewers even when the Turtles arrive. Splinter is then dumped into a sewage disposal similar to where Mikey trapped the Squirrelanoids. Later on, Karai saves him from drowning and brings him to dry land, nudging him before leaving.

In Vision Quest, Splinter appears to the turtles in a spiritual form, telling them while he is still alive, his spirit is detached from his living body. He instructs them to go alone to fight their spiritual enemies, and to forge new armor and weapons. After this, he tells them to sleep and vanishes.

In Return to New York, the turtles find out that due to the injuries he got from his battle with Shredder, Splinter is suffering amnesia, and thinks that he is just an ordinary rat. This leads to him being captured by the Foot Clan and held hostage by Stockman-Fly who was ordered by Shredder to find a way to restore Splinter's mind. April used her telepathy to bring him back to sanity. Hamato Yoshi then defeats the Shredder Mutants and then retreats with the Turtles, April, and Casey when the rest of the Foot Clan arrives.

In Annihilation Earth! Part 1, Splinter was present when the turtles returned to explain what they learned about from Bishop about plans of both the Kraang and the Triceratons. He was summoned along with the turtles' allies to stop the Triceraton's plan to invade and destroy the earth using the Heart of Darkness to create a black hole. While Slash was able to stall the bomb Splinter and turtles found themselves over powered by the Triceratons forces as most their allies ended up trapped while Mikey was taken their warships. Splinter and the others were forced to evacuate. After deciding a new game plan Splinter decided to seek help from the Foot Clan with the aid of April.

In Annihilation Earth!, Part 2 Master Splinter and April managed to sneak into the Shredder's lair and ended confronting both Bebop and Tiger Claw. The two mutants cornered them asked for the reason why they came. They were soon confronted by the Shredder, Splinter tried to convince him of the danger that the Triceratons meant for the earth. While told that they . Splinter realized he is the only person in the position to stop the device in time, but just before he can reach it, he is murdered in cold blood from behind by the Shredder, whose treacherous action has just doomed the entire planet. Splinter's pupils find themselves bemoaning their master fate, while April activates her psychic powers to knockout Shredder. The turtles look on as Splinter's body and all life is on earth is sucked by the Blackhole.

In The Super Shredder, Splinter has a receives a glimpse of a vision involving Shredder in his mutant form while meditating with the Turtles and April. He discusses the similar dream he had the night before where he fought the Shredder and did not survive the experience. Later after Shredder kidnaps Karai, the Turtles tell Splinter that Shredder told them to have him meet at the last place Shredder defeated him if he ever wanted to see his daughter again. Splinter finds Karai but faces the Super Shredder, who is now a mutant. Splinter is led into the Undercity, where the Turtles fought the Rat King. While fighting, Super Shredder has Splinter right where he wants him, before he fires a kunai at the explosives, causing the rock below them to break. Super Shredder tries to escape, but Splinter grabs his leg before they fall into the abyss.

In Darkest Plight, Splinter and Super Shredder fall into the abyss. Shredder lands on an I-beam, saving his life while Splinter continues to fall, banging his head on several more beams before reaching the bottom of the abyss. While tying a makeshift splint around his injured leg, he is shocked to notice that Victor Falco is still alive. He convinces Splinter to join him, but Splinter refuses. He suddenly has a vision of Tang Shen and the Turtles, which brings his mind back to reality, noticing that only Falco's skeletal remains lay there. Then, he is rescued by Donatello and Michelangelo.

In The Power Inside Her, Splinter realizes that April's Aeon Crystal has become to dangerous to be around her and takes her to the dojo to help her with healing mantras, but the crystal still seems to levitate towards her. Splinter tries to help April again, only to be beset by visions of the Aeons and Xaava-Dal. He tells her she needs to break the connection with the crystal before it is too late. The crystal reunites with April and drops Splinter to the ground while under control. Donatello emerges from the rubble to help Splinter out of the debris in the dojo. He warns Donnie to be careful around April. Later after April returns to the dojo after defeating Za-Naron, Splinter says he is proud of her for destroying her demons.

In Tale of Tiger Claw, Splinter is training with the Turtles and Casey while drinking. After training, he says you sometimes must use "unorthodox methods" to defeat your enemies. According to Splinter, Leonardo and Michelangelo have good intuition, Casey has no intuition, April has almost perfect intuition, and Raphael and Donatello have a partial lack of intuition because Raphael is too furious and Donatello is too grounded up with knowledge.

In Requiem, Splinter is shown meditating distantly and spends time chatting with Leonardo. Having taught his sons and pupils every art of ninjitsu, Splinter informs Leo that he must prepare to take on a bigger role as the sensei when he (Splinter) "passes on", possibly foreshadowing his death, in addition to explaining why he chose Leonardo to be the leader. Furthermore, he advises Leo that true wisdom does not come from the brain, but from the heart. When the other three Turtles request Leo and Splinter to join Karai and Shinigami (who are safe-housed with Slash, Leatherhead, Mondo Gecko and the Mighty Mutanimals' warehouse), he agrees, stating that he needs some fresh air for once.

With the old lair no longer safe, Karai and Shinigami are safehoused with the Mighty Mutanimals in the Bronx, but their relief at being safe is short-lived as Super Shredder lays siege to the hideout, attacks the Mutanimals, wrecks havioc with the warehouse trashed and sets it ablaze. As Karai faces him, Super Shredder taunts her at how she'll die just like Tang Shen did. Enraged by this, Karai charges at Super Shredder, but thanks to his mutation being stabilized and strengthened, her sword blade shatters upon trying to stab his mutated heart, and is knocked off the catwalk and buried under debris, left to die. Leonardo and Splinter arrive and manage to rescue Karai in the nick of time, but once outside, she's not responding. Leo performs CPR on her and manages to revive her much to Splinter's relief and gratitude. As the NYPD and FDNY are heard approaching, Shinigami stays behind with Karai so she can be taken to the hospital by the paramedics to be treated for her injuries. Alongside Raphael, Slash, April and Casey, Splinter succeeds in seemingly defeating the Super Shredder during a climactic battle on a tall hotel building's rooftop, but is once again killed by the Super Shredder during a battle, when Super Shredder impales him with his mutated claws and throws him off a rooftop. The grieving Turtles bury him at the O'Neil farmhouse.

In Owari, Splinter's spirit gives Leonardo some words of advice from beyond the grave, informing him about what happens in the afterlife and that Shredder is still out there, so Leo must avenge Splinter and put an end to this ASAP, re-motivating his iffy son. After the Turtles return to NYC, they visit Karai in a hospital (whose face is bandaged and has a broken right arm, attached to a life support machine), but is expected to make a full recovery. When the Turtles arrive to tell her about Splinter's death, hoping to avenge him, Karai gives them the location of Super Shredder's hideout so they can end things once and for all. During the heat of the battle, Leonardo is defeated by the Super Shredder after angrily accusing him of being a fiend and demon. The Super Shredder prepares to finish him off, but an apparition of Splinter's spirit once again revisits and re-motivates Leo, assuring him to "fear noting". Mustering up some courage, Leonardo dodges the finishing blow, punches and kicks the Super Shredder using the element of surpirise, retrieves a katana and springs towards the Super Shredder delivering a powerful, fatal slash, beheading the tyrant once and for all. With the Super Shredder dead for good and Splinter successfully avenged, the Turtles, April, and Casey sit on a rooftop overlooking the city with Karai (who has just been released from the hospital, expected to fully heal up in time), knowing that with Shredder gone, there will be a major power struggle to fill the gap, but they will be ready for it, knowing Splinter is watching over them from the afterlife with pride.

Skills Powers and Abilities

Splinter seems to be very adept in regards to the mind. For instance, when the Rat King attempted to hypnotize him, Splinter was able to defend himself from Rat King in his own dreams. Splinter has perhaps trained in the ways of ninja for all of his life, which makes him very methodical in physical situations, and able to act easily in difficult situations that require thought. Even though his mental fight with Rat King was rather strenuous, he still easily defeated Rat King with his sons' help, showing that he had to combine his thoughts with his physical power, which ultimately led him to nearly kill The Rat King....Splinter's feelings for his former family; His daughter, Miwa, who was taken away from him by his arch-nemesis, and his deceased wife Tang Shen, who was killed in a battle, and his determination to hold onto his current bond with the Turtles...is ultimately what gives him the majority of the abilities he has today. He can also seemingly read his foes' thoughts and predict their next move, implying that he can sense the projections of opponents (and use his keen hearing). This seemed to be evident during his fight with Shredder, during which Splinter also demonstrated his ingenuity by using his natural abilities as a mutant rat in the fight (something that he had never shown before, as he focused on training the turtles in more human skills), such as catching Shredder's blade in his teeth and running on all fours. Despite The Shredder taunting Splinter about his daughter, Splinter nearly defeated him, until Karai ultimately made her interference. When April O'Neil's psychic powers first became evident in her ability to sense Dr. Tyler Rockwell, Splinter revealed to her that he has similar abilities, but had to hone them over a long time through training and practice; this sets him apart from April and the Kraang (who are already natural-born psychics to begin with) and Dr. Rockwell and Dr. Victor Falco (who were augmented with psychic powers).

As a human, he was a great and powerful master of Ninjutsu. He was training for his entire life when he was very young. He has mastered many skills and has great abilities such as great strength, acrobatics, speed, stamina, and endurance greater than any athlete.

Ninjutsu: As a master of Ninjutsu, Splinter is knowledgeable, speedy and has greater strength. He can take down larger opponents without a whole lot of effort, as demonstrated in "It Came from the Depths". His strength was shown that he was able to slap his hand against Dogpound and toss him into the air by a back hand and use his anger to take off the heavy pillars of his back for revenge for Leo and Leatherhead. In Return to New York, he easily defeated three Shredder mutants in a very short battle.

Jaw Strength: His jaws are powerful enough to break certain forms of metal such as Shredder's weapon, similarly to a sword.

Fighting Skills: His skills of Ninjutsu are so remarkably high that even Rahzar (back when he was still Dogpound) referred to him as "one of the best" and claimed that "he's as skilled as Master Shredder, but he doesn't have the stomach to finish the fight". Though the Shredder's skills of Ninjutsu often seem to be to be higher due to his knowledge of forbidden techniques (even surprising Yoshi), he has been defeated by Splinter twice (once in Japan just before the fire that burned the Hamato home and again in Showdown).

Teaching: He is a great teacher to those who will like to train, as he trained his four sons for 15 years of their lives. He even trains April well enough to defend herself from enemies. He even told them that weapons usual chose their owner not the other way around.

Enemy Detection: He can easily detect when an enemy is coming. This is either do to excellent hearing that he got when he mutated or his "balanced mind" but this type of power or ability when he was human couldn't hear the noise that April was hearing. Similarly to April, he appears to possess a rare sensitivity gift.

Enhanced Strength: He has a very special skill that is powerful but could be even be much stronger for being a mutant to use his fingers to push away his enemies as shown on the Shredder to be able to injure his arm.

Enhanced Speed: He is shown to have a lot of abilities that ordinary rats possess - namely running on all fours. His speed is capable for him to get behind Dogpound.

Senses: He probably can see in the dark like regular rats do. He had shown in his feral state that he was able to smell a peanut outside of his cage from Baxter Stockman glass.

Weaponry: Splinter is skilled with the usage of many weapons as well as showing he is able to adept to all weapons that he can find that is around even a magazine.

Stealth: His stealth is a combination of his speed to get pass his enemies like Dogpound.

Leap: He can even jump very well to Shredder's window.

Intelligence: He shows amazing wisdom to give to anyone as for his fighting intelligence he can ways for his sons to escape when being hold tight they can escape from their enemies by making then loose focus as shown that he was able to escape the strength of Raph by licking him.

Stamina and Endurance: Both are great for a mutant of his age (50) he seems to be very well to fight. This is shown that he is well enough to take attacks from Shredder as he was able to go toe-to-toe with him. He was able to defeat Foot Ninjas, Fishface, and Dogpound with absolute ease before he fought against the Shredder in a long brutal fight. Even when countless heavy pillars fell on him during another fight with Shredder, he was still more than capable of fighting competently against his opponent. He was able to endure the attack from the Mind Controlled Slash mace.

Relationships

Family

Leonardo - The eldest of Splinter's four adopted sons and the leader of his 3 younger brothers. Splinter seems to share most of his knowledge with him. Leo is the closest to Splinter out of all of the turtles. However, it is just in hopes of embracing Leo's role as the leader - and making him more tactful and intelligent. Because of Leo's status, Splinter always discusses how to perfect his leadership...

Raphael - The second oldest of Splinter's four adopted sons and the most aggressive of his brothers. Him and Splinter are shown to have similarities in their temperament, such as when Splinter retaliated on The Shredder, which resulted in the tragic death of his own wife. And much later, when an arrogant man caught the turtles on video with an I-Phone, Raph sought to break the phone 'and the man's face'. However, due to the knowledge that Splinter had acquired from the result of his temper against Shredder, he tells Raph that he must maintain his temper...in order to get the best of the situation.

Donatello - The second youngest of Splinter's four adopted sons and the most technological of his brothers. Like he does with his other sons, he occasionally enjoys teasing Donnie and teaching him important lessons. At one point, he attempted to teach Donnie a lesson in not forcing someone, i.e. April, to like another person, i.e. Donnie, back.

Michelangelo - The youngest of Splinter's four adopted sons and the wildest of his brothers. Splinter says that Michelangelo can fight easily without thinking. Despite Mikey's dimwittedness, Splinter claims that he actually shows great potential.

Karai / Miwa - Splinter's initially supposedly dead daughter, Miwa, who was taken away by Oroku Saki after the events of their final battle and raised as his own daughter. Splinter only found this out upon being forced to duel with the Shredder, after April O'Neil's abduction by him. Once he knew the truth and after she showed up, he refused to fight her, leaving her and his own enemy alive. Even though Miwa is out of Splinter's life in one sense, Splinter still has one place that he still holds her—his heart. Despite Karai's place as a foot assassin, Splinter still deeply loves her and believes that there is still good in her. He also had no hesitation about trying to save her when she fell of the roof. When Karai learned the truth about Splinter being her true father, she was rescued by the turtles and they brought her to the lair where she hugged Splinter. Splinter was deeply devastated when Karai was turned into a mutant serpent. However, Karai recognized her father before escaping. Near the end of "The Invasion, Part 2", mutant Karai saved Splinter from drowning in the sewers. It was shown in Serpent Hunt that he wished to be reunited with his daughter. In The Fourfold Trap, when he sees his daughter again under Shredder's control, he was reluctant to fight her in her mind controlled state and tried to reach her, to no avail. When Karai attacked him, he refrained from hitting her at all, and stuck with just blocking and dodging her attacks, and eventually disarming her, showing that he doesn't want to hurt her at all. After that, he then tells her he won't fight her, which makes her revert to her mutant form. Before he finishes the healing mantra in hope that it frees her mind, he confesses his love for his daughter. Splinter is so saddened when he loses Karai again as she is washed away into the sewer, that he fears he'll never see her again.

Tang Shen - Hamato Yoshi's wife, who died a long time ago. Not much is known about their relationship, but it's implied that they both loved each other deeply. Even though the Shredder's jealousy was the reason for Tang Shen's death, Splinter blames himself for giving into the Shredder's presumptuous anger and initiating the two's bitter rivalry.

Oroku Saki - Found by Splinter's father when the Hamato Clan wiped out the Foot Clan, Shredder was raised as Yoshi's brother until he learned the truth about his past and their brother rivalry got bigger proportions.

April O'Neil - A teenage girl who met Splinter and the turtles after being kidnapped by The Kraang. Since he lost his true daughter many years ago, he has comes to view April as his surrogate daughter, and he even supplied her with the weapon that he once intended to give to Miwa. April respects Splinter as well and saw him as a father-figure after her own father was kidnapped by the Kraang. As of Return to New York, Splinter considers April to be part of his family and she helped him regain his reason. He continued her training until she became a full fledge ninja as she thanked him for the great honor.

When Splinter was killed, April broke down in tears at the death of her fallen master.

Casey Jones - Splinter respects Casey as an ally and also as a friend to both April and Raphael. Since being introduced to Splinter and the turtles, Casey became a regular visitor to the lair. As of Return to New York, Splinter considers Casey to be part of his family.

It is shown Casey feels the same about Splinter as after Shredder killed Splinter, Casey attempted to crush the villain to death in a garbage truck in revenge.

Allies

Slash - Before Spike's mutation into Slash, Splinter was barely ever seen acknowledging his existence, and was only shown using him as a sounding board to tease Raphael into listening to Splinter's story in Turtle Temper. But after Raph and Slash became alienated in Slash and Destroy, Splinter recognized how deeply Raph had loved Slash, and counseled Raph in dealing with his grief. Since Clash of the Mutanimals, Splinter and Slash have themselves been shown to be friends and allies. When Slash was being mind-controlled by the Shredder, Slash brutally attacked Splinter, severely wounding him. When Slash was freed from the Shredder's control, Slash begged for Splinter's forgiveness, only for Splinter to consider Slash blameless for the incident. Still, Slash's attack took its toll, with Splinter still in physical therapy during The Deadly Venom.

Leatherhead - In It Came From The Depths, Splinter was the second person after Michelangelo to sense that Leatherhead had a good heart, and encouraged his sons to show Leatherhead compassion. But when Leatherhead suffered a bout of uncontrollable rage, Splinter angrily kicked him out of the lair. This did not become an enmity, as the two met as good friends in Battle for New York, Part 2 and fought the Shredder together. Leatherhead's then-defeat enraged Splinter, reigniting his determination to defeat the Shredder.

Kirby O'Neil - Splinter has always regarded April's father positively, though they have seldom been shown interacting with each other. Their most meaningful interaction was during The Deadly Venom, when Kirby frantically brought April to the lair after Karai envenomated her. When Donatello proved powerless to heal April with medicine, Splinter remained with April and Kirby and used an ancient poison-draining mantra. Kirby and Splinter briefly argued over the wisdom of not taking April to a hospital, but Splinter successfully healed April and earned Kirby's gratitude and esteem.

Acquaintances

Timothy / The Pulverizer / Mutagen Man - Timothy was neither clearly Splinter's ally nor his enemy. Splinter's biggest impression of Timothy was that he is a doofus, and that it was inappropriate for Donatello to teach Timothy their ninja arts.

Enemies

Oroku Saki / Shredder - Splinter's old step-brother and current arch-nemesis. They fought over Tang Shen when Saki was consumed with jealousy, which resulted in Splinter's house catching ablaze and collapsing on Shen, killing her. Up until this day, Splinter has vividly remembered that moment. Unbeknownst to Splinter, Shredder stole his daughter, Miwa, during the night of the tribulation and raised her as his own daughter. He began teaching her in the ways of the ninja, and he later convinced her that Splinter was responsible for her mother's death (which is, of course, not true). Recently, Shredder has organized an army of ninja called the Foot Clan, whom he deploys to locate Splinter and his disciples after learning of the latters' whereabouts (New York City). Eventually, Splinter and Saki duel once more, during which Splinter discovers the truth—that Karai is his own daughter, raised to hate him and the turtles. This both infuriates and depresses Splinter...when discovering that his daughter has been dealt with in the wrong hands. In the Season 3 finale, Splinter gets Shredder and his henchmen to work together with him to stop the Triceraton invasion and save the world (and, to the best of their knowledge, the MIA Karai) from annihilation, but when Splinter is about to stop the black hole, Shredder kills him, proving that he values finally beating him over the preservation of the world. This events were undone by the turtles traveling back in time and Leonardo warning Splinter, allowing him to survive Shredder's attack. Splinter denounced Shredder for holding onto his grudge while he was saving the world but Shredder blamed him for Karai's condition. They engaged in battle with Splinter giving Shredder a well-deserved thrashing and calling him a monster as he left him wounded for Tiger Claw to retrieve.

Despite his brief victory, Shredder was not done as he returned mutated and overwhelmed Splinter in this state. To defeat him, Splinter tried to kill both of them by dragging Shredder down an abyss but both survived and still seek to defeat the other.

In their next battle, Super Shredder overwhelmed Splinter but when he hurt both Raphael and Karai it sent the latter into a rage at seeing his children harmed. Splinter angrily attacked Shredder fueled by anger and ended up launching him off a roof but Shredder climbed back up and stabbed Splinter through his abdomen, killing him.
Chris Bradford / Dogpound / Rahzar - Splinter has only battled with him once upon confronting the Shredder. Splinter seems to be relatively more skilled in combat than Bradford.

Xever Montes / Fishface - Splinter has only battled with him once upon confronting the Shredder. Splinter seems to be relatively more skilled in combat than Xever.

Dr. Victor Falco / The Rat King - Has attempted to (and succeeded at) taking over Splinter's mind, while under the alias of the "The Rat King" by using deceptive tactics based upon their similarities.

Quotes

Splinter:"Raphael, there is no monster more dangerous than a lack of compassion." (sees Leatherhead) "My mistake..."-It Came From the Depths

Splinter: (To Leatherhead) "STOP! Get away from my sons!"

Splinter:"Of course. I am compassionate, not insane."-It Came From The Depths

Splinter: "That's the choice I made. What choice will you make?" -Turtle Temper

Splinter: "I hope you have learned, turtles, that truth is not the only thing that hurts!"-I Think His Name is Baxter Stockman

Splinter:"The first rule of being a ninja is do no harm. Unless you need to do harm, then do lots of harm!"-I Think His Name is Baxter Stockman

Splinter: "You were all very lucky. (Raphael responds) Few have ever faced the Shredder and survived. (dialogue) Perhaps. But that no longer matters. It is clear now that the Shredder is a problem that will not go away. So prepare yourselves, my sons... because as of this moment... we are at war."-The Gauntlet

Splinter: "Yes, because you will stay down here until you are ready! No patrol, no games, no rest! There is only training, starting now!"-Panic in the Sewers

Splinter: "If I were the Shredder, none of you would be breathing right now! Understand!?" -Panic in the Sewers

Splinter: "No, I am a man! I am Hamato Yoshi!"-I, Monster

Splinter: "My place... is with my sons!"-I, Monster

Splinter: "Oh, the Olympics?"-TCRI

Splinter: "You fool...! Do you have ANY idea what you've done!?"

Splinter: "Look closely at this face, Shredder. For it is the last thing you will ever see!"

Splinter: "You took everything that I loved. Everything! And still you hunt me down! So... I fight you now... to end this!"

Splinter: "You never had anything but your hatred! And if you defeat me, you will have NOTHING!"

Splinter: "... Miwa?"

Splinter: "My son, for someone so intelligent, the obvious often eludes you."

Splinter: "I lost many things: my family, my home, my name. But I gained many things as well like the four of you."

Splinter: "You're too busy trying to be this unrealistic television captain. Instead you should listen to your mind and heart. Only when you listen to yourself and your brothers will you become the great leader you are destined to be.

Splinter: "The fist of you're have the power of the mightiest of earthquakes. They can bring the strongest of men to their knees.

Splinter: "Anger is self destructive. Let the emotion of anger wash over you like a river over an immovable stone."-Turtle Temper

Splinter: "Yes... and no. Karai may have failed her mission but if the Shredder wants you that badly, I doubt he will stop until he has found you and with the Kraang after you as well, I hardly doubt it is safe for you on the surface so it is probably best that you stay down here with us."-Karai's Vendetta

This is the third version of Hamato Yoshi being mutated into a rat, the first version being from the 1987 series and the second version being from the Archie Comics series loosely based on the 1987 series.

Splinter's bed is a bare tatami, a kind of traditional Japanese movable flooring mat. It is normally customary to sleep on a futonon a mat, rather than directly on the mat itself, which has a harder surface. In I, Monster, Splinter is shown sleeping on it in his bedroom, but is also shown sleeping on it in other rooms like the dōjō and the common area.

In Showdown, Part 2, Splinter found out that his daughter, Hamato Miwa, is still alive.

In the trailer for the season two finale "The Invasion, Part 1" and "Part 2", Splinter says, "No, you are making a mistake", as he struggles while trying to fight Kraang Subprime off. However, in the final product, he says nothing.